Shadows at Play
by Friends Babe
Summary: The Shepherd has been talking to young women, controlling them. The Cold Case team is on his heels, with their suspect almost firmly behind bars. But what happens when one member can't afford to wait for backup? Does this mean the end, or the beginning of


_This was written after Shadowplay aired in the UK and is basically my version of the episode. There are no spoilers for the ending of the episode, but the characters mentioned and the situation dealt with is lifted directly from the episode, so may not be totally understood by anyone who has not yet seen the episode. _

_Hope you enjoy._

**Shadows at Play**

Mel searched for her phone in amongst the mess of her car. Crap, no phone. She knew she shouldn't go into a possible suspects house without any form of contact, dam, looked like she was stuck there until Boyd arrived. Suddenly a thought struck her, the police radio. She usually kept it in her dashboard, unless she'd left that somewhere as well … aha! One police radio coming up! She grabbed it and quickly turned it on, as she ran up to the front door of the block, not even sure what she'd do when she arrived there. She couldn't arrest him unless he confessed, she didn't have a warrant. She didn't even know if he was there … if he was, how was she meant to deal with a possible murder suspect, unarmed? Shaking the thoughts from her head she reasoned that the entire place would probably be empty. She was just there to search for clues, nothing more, nothing less.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Mel realised she didn't even know what direction his flat was in, she knew it lead out onto a roof terrace, but she had no idea where that was either. Deciding the right hand corridor stood more chance of leading to the roof she took off down it, tearing towards the end apartment, not even sure how she planned on getting into the apartment. As soon as she reached the end that question was answered for her.

The door stood wide open, displaying a glimpse into the expensive apartment. As she took a few hazardous steps into it she noticed a figure lying at the end of the hallway. She took a few tentative steps towards the body, fully aware that the man was dead, and identified him as Matt Carney. As she bent down in a vain attempt to check for a pulse, she noticed the woman sitting on the sofa. Now aware that this was no longer just a routine search, she needed backup to deal with a murder scene and possible killer. Quietly she crept back, out of the apartment and came to a stop in the hallway. Pulling her radio out of her pocket she whispered her message through the Boyd,

"Sierra-Mike-Sierra to Sierra-Papa-Bravo", she waited for the reply, it didn't take long.

"We're here Mel"

"Boyd, I'm at Matt Carney's place. He's dead, shot. But there's a girl in there, I'm assuming she did it. I need backup, but I'm going to try and talk to her"

"Mel, just wait there for us, we're only round the corner"

"It's on the top floor, last apartment to the right. I'll be inside"

She could hear him shouting now, "Mel, wait outside. We're on our way!"

"I'll see you soon Boyd. Over and out"

"Bloody Hell!" Boyd yelled as Mel ended their conversation, "She can't go in there alone"

Grace watched him as he ranted, slightly concerned that he didn't appear to be looking at the road, "You couldn't have stopped her. She'd have gone in anyway, be grateful she radioed"

"But she knows, they all know, not to put themselves in situations like that!"

Grace couldn't help smiling at that, she knew as well as Boyd did that he'd have done the exact same thing. He'd have walked straight in there and tried to talk her round, got a confession and arrested her when backup came. He wouldn't have given it a second thought. He could never see how similar he and Mel were, despite her best efforts to the contrary. Still, probably best not to delve into his psyche while he was driving.

"Don't worry, she's a big girl. She'll be fine"

Taking a deep breath, Mel walked back into the apartment, not fully prepared on how to act, or what to say, even the way she walked was troubling her. She didn't want to appear too threatening. Shaking the thoughts out of her head she told herself she could do this, she could do this.

As casually as she could manage she walked over to the sofa and stood behind it, wary of getting too close, too soon. "Hello" she began, not even sure if she'd get a reply. She didn't, the girl continued to sit still, simply staring out at the flowers artistically positioned around the terrace. Using these as her in, she moved closer towards the girl, "They're pretty aren't they?"

"He was going to kill me. Act like I never existed"

Mel was unprepared for such a sentence, she'd been expecting a least another minute of silence before she got the statutory 'yes', regarding the flowers. Smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring, understanding way, she replied, "Who? Him?"

The girl turned to face her then, Mel could see the fear in her eyes and suddenly found herself feeling sorry for the girl. She was petrified, believed she'd had no other choice but to kill the man she believed was after her. It wasn't totally her fault, she was ill, was being manipulated. Searching around for any answer she eventually settled on introductions, "My names Mel, by the way"

The girl stared at her, the fear still in her eyes before she replied, "Emily"

Mel walked forward slightly and sat herself down on the edge of the sofa, her eyes now fixed on the gun Emily still held in her hand, "Do you want to give me the gun?"

"He was going to say I'd killed myself! Take everything from me and then when he killed me they'd all just assume … I'd done it myself, that's what they'd think!"

Mel inched herself closer, "But he can't hurt you now can he? So why don't you just give me the gun?", slowly she reached her hand out towards the gun, gripping the barrel and moving it slowly away from Emily, placing it on the sofa next to her. She glanced at the clock above the door, Boyd should be outside any minute now.

"Emily? Do you want to go outside now? Where he can't get to you?", again she moved an inch closer to the girl, reaching her hand out towards her. Just as Emily began to nod, her radio went off. Mel smiled apologetically, silently cursing the police forces' bad timing, before walking out onto the terrace to see what they wanted,

"This is Mel Silver"

"It's Boyd, we're outside now. Where are you?"

Mel knew he wouldn't like the answer, but she had to give it, "I'm inside. It's all under – dam!" she exclaimed as she dropped her radio, hearing Boyd shouting frantically on the other end,

"Mel, you there? Mel can you read me! Mel!"

Smiling slightly she bent down to pick it up, "Boyd I'm fine. I'm – ", just then the bullet went soaring over her head. Throwing her radio to the ground she turned to see where the shot had come from. As she turned she saw Emily, the gun pointed straight forward, preparing to shoot again.

"Emily! No, Emily don't. No one wants to hurt you now. He's gone, just come downstairs with me and you'll see. You don't want to do this … ", Mel ran out of words, the fear now shining clearly through her voice, hoping and praying that Emily dropped the gun, or that Boyd came running in now, wrestled Emily to the ground and saved the day again. She needed them, she couldn't cope on her own.

"The police, the police'll blame me, I know you will"

"No, Emily, we blame him. I promise you"

Emily didn't reply. Mel watched as she pointed the gun directly at her chest, placed her fingers on the trigger, she moved only a fraction of a second after the trigger was pulled. The bullet meant for her chest ended up hitting somewhere in her arm, taking a sizeable chunk of it as it passed through.

Gritting her teeth against the pain as she fell to the floor Mel realised it was hopeless. She couldn't defend herself with only one good arm, she could barely defend herself before, now it was useless. Looking up she saw Emily standing over her, the gun pointed straight at her head. This was it. She was going to die on a cold, wet, stone terrace at a stranger's apartment. She'd never see anyone ever again, no one. Not even Boyd …

Closing her eyes she waited for the inevitable BANG, the noise and then – the silence. The nothingness that would undoubtedly accompany her death. It never came.

Boyd pulled the car up outside the expensive apartment block and immediately spotted Mel's car parked outside. Stopping his car behind it, he reached for the door handle but felt Grace's hand hold him back,

"Leave her for a minute"

"What! She's up there with a possible murderer!"

Grace sighed; sometimes Boyd just couldn't understand the way people's minds worked. "Exactly. If she's managed to calm them down, you going in with all guns blazing, shouting the place down isn't going to help is it?"

She watched him reluctantly close the door and sit back, "Fine. But the first sign of trouble and I'm straight up there"

She didn't expect any less.

They watched the balcony above them in silence, wondering how things were going inside, frustrated that they couldn't hear or see anything, wondering where Spence and uniform had got to. Eventually the inevitable doubts began to creep into their minds, was Mel was still alive in there? They hadn't heard anything in a long time … she should have radioed by now, shouldn't she?

Boyd reached for his radio and before Grace could stop him, began talking frantically into it, "Mel? Mel, what's going on up there? Mel?", he waited in silence for what felt like an eternity, before,

"This is Mel Silver"

Boyd exhaled, relieved, before continuing with his message, he was about to sign off; reassured that everything was under control when the line went dead. He felt himself yelling loudly into his radio, "Mel, you there? Mel can you read me! Mel!", only stopping when he heard her voice on the other end. She was fine.

That's when he heard the gun.

Throwing his radio in Grace's general direction he took off towards the stairs, closely followed by Spence, and the rest of uniform. Reaching the top floor he remembered Mel's earlier words 'last apartment to the right'. He raced off down the corridor, only stopping when he reached the open door. He gestured for Spence to wait outside and walked in, unaware of what he'd find.

He saw them immediately, Mel lying in a pool of blood on the balcony, a girl standing over her, the gun still clutched in her hand. For one dreadful moment he thought she was dead, then he saw her lean up slightly, attempt to talk to the girl. He watched, hoping the gun would drop. It didn't. Aware now that if he didn't act fast Mel would die in front of his eyes, he walked forward, picking up speed as he did so. Eventually he reached the terrace.

He noticed Mel's eyes tightly shut, attempting to block her surroundings out. He launched himself at the girl without thinking, taking her to the ground with him and sending the gun spinning off in front of them. Holding her down as he reached for the handcuffs in his pocket he shouted for Spence,

"Spence! Phone an ambulance and get Mel to it, and get Frankie up here, now!"

Mel opened her eyes tentatively as she heard Boyd's voice nearby, hoping she was not imagining it. Praying for her own sanity that in her dying moments she had not chosen to hear Boyd, of all people. Then she head him call out for Spence, and felt someone approach her. Opening her eyes fully she saw Spence crouching over her, wrapping his long coat around her shoulders as he helped her up.

"Thanks"

"Don't mention it" he replied as he helped her out, "There's an ambulance downstairs, how's your arm?"

She winced as the mention brought the pain flooding back, "I think there's a bit still on the terrace. But it'll be fine"

As she walked out of the main doors, supported fully by Spence now, she felt Grace and Frankie suddenly rush over to her.

"Are you OK? Where did they get you? How are you feeling? Do you want to sit down? We were so worried about you!"

Mel simply smiled at them, hugging each one in turn, wincing again as she raised her arm to embrace them, "Goodbye you two, I'll see you around". She ignored their confused expressions as she sat down in the back of an ambulance. She let Spence fuss over her for a few minutes, asking her if she was OK, if she was comfortable, if she needed anything, before she pulled him towards her in a hug, holding him tightly before kissing him gently on his cheek.

"Bye Spence." She whispered, knowing now that she'd probably never see him again, she'd never see any of them again. She knew now what she'd been wondering for a long time. She wasn't going to spend the rest of her life in Cold Case, maybe not even in the police. But right now, she just needed a break.

As Spence went to shut the doors behind him, his face now wearing the same confused expression as Grace and Frankie's she smiled and called out to him, "Stay here, you're needed, and do me one favour?" he nodded, stepping down onto the ground outside,

"Anything"

She smiled, "Tell Boyd I'll miss him"


End file.
